Cookies!

We are busy getting ready for the Holiday Open House tonight at 6PM!  There will be lots and lots of cookies!  Plus entertainment, Santa, Christopher Pop-in-kins, samples from the open hearth, the dollhouse exhibit, and much more!

Members are free (and you can buy a membership tonight, if you want!), guests are $5.  That is a discounted admission from ALL of our regular rates, and you get a lot more for your money tonight!

Sirius-XM radio interview

Chris was interviewed this morning on Sirius-XM Channel 106 for a series they do on American Presidents!

I sat out in the parking lot in the car with an MP3 recorder to capture the interview for our files.  (It felt very "old school" -- like when I was a kid back in the '80s and would hold my Fisher Price tape recorder up to the radio, hoping the DJ wouldn't talk too much at the beginning or end of my favorite song!)

We had trouble uploading it as a plain audio file, so Chris made it a "video" with some photos of the Museum and McKinley so we could post it here to share it.

There was so much to talk about with McKinley, his original 30 minute interview was extended!

Where's the Dentist?

Have you visited the Street of Shops recently and noticed something's missing?

The Dentist and his patient have gone on a little trip to LifeFormations in Bowling Green, Ohio!  In 2013 you will see a brand new Dentsit and patient in the Street of Shops!

LifeFormations built our animatronic McKinleys, as well as the Doctor and his patient in the Street of Shops.  Their work is amazingly lifelike!  They have done excellent work for us in the past, and we are excited about some of the projects we have coming up.

We have plans to add even more figures to the Street to "bring it to life" for our visitors in the future.  Our next project is to add an African American figure to the Blacksmith Shop.  One of the new audio tour buttons is dedicated to this aspect of African American history:

In the South, large plantations were often isolated and had to be self-sufficient when it came time to re-shoe a horse or repair agricultural equipment.  A few slaves were given a rare opportunity to learn an important skill.  After the Civil War, African Americans migrating north found work in many communities as a blacksmith.

Special thanks to the Museum's Auxiliary and our Capital & Replacement donors for making the Dentist and patient refurbishment project possible!  In the coming months we will be raising money for the Blacksmith.  If you would like to contribute, please let me know.  Every dollar helps!

Black Friday shopping at ShopforMuseums.com

Same Gifts, Same Stores, More Joy! 

Use ShopforMuseums.com When You Shop Online for the Holidays and Give a FREE DONATION to the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum!

Make your online Holiday shopping go further this year by using the ShopforMuseums.com portal. Simply start at ShopforMuseums.com, select us as your Museum Partner, then use the links to click through to hundreds of your favorite stores. A percentage of your purchase amount is given back to us as a FREE DONATION.

Find the best Holiday sales and exclusive coupons online. Shop for everyone on your list at stores like Tommy Hilfiger, Macys, Zappos, Best Buy, HP, Target, Petsmart and Barnes & Noble. There are over 1,000 stores to choose from.

Be sure to also check out the Gift Certificate and Travel Planning sections of ShopforMuseums.com to generate extra donations for us.

Thank you for thinking of the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum during the Holiday season. Your donations are greatly appreciated.

New exhibit at Stark County Courthouse

My intern Elizabeth completed the second of her two exhibit installations on Friday with a look at a typical 1950s "date night" in the case in the lobby of the Stark County Courthouse:

"Nearer My God to Thee" in the Monument!

On Friday night the McKinley National Memorial (known to locals as "The Monument") was the mystery ending location for a Canton Food Tour! 

Barbara Abbott's new company, Canton Food Tours, finished up its inaugural season with a fundraiser for the Jackson School for the Arts.  We met at the Canton Club, where we had a fantastic pork empanada to go.  Three groups rotated between Picciano's Martini Lounge (yummy martinis!), Basil Asian Bistro (Thai spaghetti and crab rangoon!), and Tozzi's Downtown (beef filet in a chocolate wine sauce!) before gathering at the Joseph Saxton Gallery where the secret final location was revealed.

Singer Brittany Cary sang the President's favorite hymn, "Nearer My God to Thee," inside the Monument.  The echo in the rotunda was hauntingly beautiful. When McKinley was assassinated, this song was heard across the country as our nation mourned the slain President.

I think everyone present had chills as Brittany sang this special hymn in honor of the President, just a few steps away from where his body was laid to rest.

Movie premiere tomorrow!

We're all very excited about the WORLD PREMIERE of the Movie Camp Movie "The McKinley Frankenstein"! 

Join us tomorrow (Saturday November 27) at 2:30 PM at Lions Lincoln Theater!  Cost is $5 per person. 

Will the kids beat Frankenstein -- with President McKinley's help?  Come FIND OUT!

Help the museum AND get some holiday shopping done!

Visit Shop For Museums and choose us as your Museum Partner before clicking through to your favorite shopping websites!  We will receive a percentage of your purchase as a donation with NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU!